Juvenile arrested in drug bust

University Polce found 384 packets of crack cocaine on a youth at 42nd and Walnut streets. University Police officers made an unexpected drug bust Saturday night when they found 384 packets of crack cocaine, valued at $3,800, on a 17-year-old boy at the 7-Eleven store at 42nd and Walnut streets, police said. When an employee of the store hit a panic alarm at about 11:30 p.m., police investigated four individuals inside the store for signs of a possible robbery, University Police Sgt. Thomas Rambo said. Police were uncertain why the employee hit the alarm, saying only that it was for a "disturbance." The four officers released the first three suspects after failing to find anything on them, police said. University Police Officer Chuck DeShields was letting the last one out of his police car when a large bulge made its way slowly down the boy's pants leg, Rambo said. "As he stood up out of the vehicle, six or seven bags of crack came out of his pant leg," said DeShields, a former Pittsburgh Police narcotics officer who has been with the University Police force since March 1996. The bags, which contained 384 vials of crack cocaine, were sent to the Narcotics Division of the Philadelphia Police Department for testing, police said. DeShields also found $580 in cash on the male. But police determined that the cash had not been stolen from the 7-Eleven and that no robbery occurred in the store. The juvenile was arrested for possession of crack cocaine with the intent to sell and transported to the Philadelphia Police Department's Southwest Detectives bureau for processing, police said. A Philadelphia Police detective is currently investigating the incident. According to Philadelphia Police Det. Mike Gross, the suspect cannot legally be tried as an adult because the crime was not violent. If convicted, he most likely would be sent to a juvenile detention center, Gross said. By contrast, three female juveniles who robbed a woman at knifepoint on the 4000 block of Locust Street last week will be tried as adults because they were armed. In an unrelated incident, a male University student was robbed Saturday morning by two males who came from behind him and grabbed his backpack, which contained his wallet, Rambo said. The incident occurred at 7 a.m. Saturday morning on the 4200 block of Osage Avenue. After snatching the bag, the two suspects fled west, Rambo said. And on Friday, University Police Officer Tony Serrano arrested a male who was driving on the 200 block of South 34th Street for possessing a gun, Rambo said. Serrano investigated the male at about 1:15 p.m. for having what appeared to be a stolen license plate, Rambo said. After discovering a black revolver, he arrested the suspect for a weapons violation, police said.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.